ASEANEWS HEADLINE-Philippine Elections | MANILA: Expectations high ahead of historic BARMM polls
PRECINCT POLICE PRESENCE Authorities in Basilan have stepped up security preparations at polling sites, with members of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal team and their K9 unit inspecting Lamitan City Central Elementary School in Barangay Maganda. —Leah D. Agonoy
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COMELEC defends 30,000 security forces deployed in BARMM | ANC
The World Tonight: Tens of thousands of police and soldiers are deployed to the Philippine Bangsamoro region, ahead of Monday’s historic parliamentary elections for Muslim Mindanao. The Philippine poll body chief says this aims to ensure a clean and honest election. – ANC, The World Tonight, September 11, 2026
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WAO, LANAO DEL SUR, Philippines — Expectations are high that Monday’s first regular parliamentary election in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) will be peaceful, orderly and less marred by fraud, even as polling officials contend with logistical problems, including weak internet signals that have slowed final testing of voting machines.
The Sept. 14 polls mark the first time BARMM voters will elect a regional parliament, a key milestone in the implementation of the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Postponed four times, the election is being closely watched as the final major step in the political track of the peace agreement that ended decades of armed conflict in Mindanao.
READ: Comelec conducts final testing, sealing for Sept. 14 BARMM polls
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Peace advocates, church leaders and election monitors said extensive government preparations, particularly the deployment of security forces, should help ensure credible polls and deter intimidation, vote-buying and other irregularities.
“We expect that the elaborate security preparations of the national government translates to a peaceful, orderly, and credible conduct of the BARMM regional elections,” Bishop Felixberto Calang, convenor of the Initiatives for Peace in Mindanao (InPeace), told the Inquirer on Saturday.
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READ: Trained cops to replace 86 no-show teachers for BARMM poll duties
Calang said the heavy security presence should protect voters and curb irregularities rather than create fear.
“We should not be hearing reports of vote-buying and voter harassment given the widespread law enforcement presence,” he said.
But some voters remain skeptical.
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Extensive security preparations
“There will definitely be ulan-ulan in the (residential) compounds,” said Aaron Baligod, who said some voters would likely rely on sample ballots distributed by political supporters.
Levy Garduce, 40, said he expected money to be offered during the campaign and voting period.
“I don’t really know anyone running, but I’ll still vote,” Garduce said, unfazed by the unfamiliar names seeking parliamentary seats.
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He added that he expected no major trouble in the community.
About 10,000 Philippine National Police personnel and 30,000 soldiers from the Armed Forces of the Philippines have been deployed across the region, particularly in areas classified “red” because of serious security threats and a history of election-related violence. The police are on full alert until Sept. 30.
Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chair George Erwin Garcia warned voters and political groups that vigilance should continue after Election Day, noting that some losing candidates or their supporters may refuse to accept the results.
“Vigilance shouldn’t end on Monday,” Garcia said.
Election materials and equipment were delivered early Saturday to designated schools serving as voting centers.
In Basilan, Explosive Ordnance Disposal teams and K9 units inspected Lamitan City Central Elementary School in Barangay Maganda.
Weak internet slows testing
The final preparations were not without glitches.
Two days before the vote, weak internet signals slowed final testing procedures for automated counting machines inseveral precincts at Lamitan City Central School. Election workers continued manual checks and system diagnostics despite the connectivity problems.
In Cotabato City, at least 86 teachers on election duty failed to report for final testing and sealing, according to Garcia. They were replaced by trained police personnel serving as poll managers.
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Comelec officials said final testing and sealing of the counting machines and other election paraphernalia were being completed across 5,212 clustered precincts.
Garcia said the machines had been sealed and packed for deployment, with safeguards preventing any single election officer from controlling their operation. Two election officers must insert their cards before a machine can be operated.
2.39M voters
About 2.393 million registered voters are expected to cast ballots at 1,186 voting centers across the BARMM.
The election will determine the 80 members of the Bangsamoro Parliament, the legislative body created under the Bangsamoro Organic Law, or Republic Act No. 11054.
Voters will make eight choices: one regional political party, one parliamentary district representative and six sectoral representatives.
The parliament will have 40 regional party representatives, 32 district representatives and eight sectoral representatives.
For the regional seats, voters will select a political party rather than an individual candidate. Seats will be allocated according to each party’s share of the vote, with its nominees filling the seats won.
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Voters will also elect one district representative. The 32 district seats are distributed as follows: four in Basilan, nine in Lanao del Sur, five in Maguindanao del Norte, five in Maguindanao del Sur, four in Tawi-Tawi, three in Cotabato City and two in the Special Geographic Area.
The six sectoral seats will represent settler communities, women, youth, traditional leaders and the “ulama,” with two seats for settler communities and one each for the other four sectors.
Peace and disinformation
Bishop-Prelate Leo Dalmao of the Diocese of Isabela de Basilan urged candidates, voters, election personnel, security forces and political leaders to protect the gains of peace.
“Basilan has known the cost of conflict. Today, we have the opportunity to show what peace can make possible,” Dalmao said.
He urged candidates and supporters to reject violence, intimidation, vote-buying, threats, misinformation and other forms of electoral dishonesty. He also reminded voters not to sell their votes, and appealed to Muslim and Christian communities “not (to) allow political differences to divide our families and our communities. We may choose different candidates, but we remain one people.”
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Election monitors are also warning of a surge in online disinformation as voting day approaches.
The Independent Election Monitoring Center (IEMC) said it had monitored misleading social media posts invoking the MILF and its armed wing, doctored or miscontextualized photographs, and artificial intelligence (AI)-generated images depicting bogus events.
“The closer we get to the ballot box, the louder the digital noise becomes,” said Sheila Algabre, IEMC head of operations.
Moro Ako delisted
Days before the vote, the Comelec en banc issued a resolution disqualifying the Moro Ako Party. It denied the group’s motion for reconsideration after earlier granting a petition by Aladin Abdul to cancel the party’s registration for alleged misrepresentation.
The petition alleged that Moro Ako declared nonexistent chapters in Cotabato City, Lamitan City, Maguindanao del Norte and Maguindanao del Sur. But the party maintained that the discrepancies were just typo errors.
Comelec officials said winners are expected to be proclaimed by Sept. 15.
Those elected will serve from noon Oct. 30, 2026, to June 30, 2031. Beginning in 2031, regular Bangsamoro elections will be synchronized with the national and local elections and held every three years. —With reports from Edwin Fernandez, Holly Bacay, and Inquirer Research
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By: Cong B. Corrales, Drema Quitayen-Bravo, Leah D. Agonoy – @inquirerdotnet/ Philippine Daily Inquirer
September 13, 2026
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